A closed tunnel will force route changes for the 99th edition of Milan-San Remo on March 22 and make the season’s longest classic four kilometers longer than usual. Race officials announced Tuesday that the additional climb, called Mànie, comes about 100km from the finish just before the arrival of three headlands at Capo Mele, Capo Cervo and Capo Berta as the route dips down to the Mediterranean Sea. The climb will have a technical descent and could play a factor in the decisive part of the race when the peloton typically begins in earnest to reel in dangerous breakaways.

Graeme Brown (Rabobank) got revenge for losing Sunday’s Clásica de Almería by sprinting to victory Tuesday in the opening stage of the five-day Vuelta a Murcia in Spain. Brown and Rabobank teammate Oscar Freire were upstaged by Juan José Haedo (CSC) on Sunday, but the Aussie sprinter got it right in 197.3km stage from San Pedro del Pinatar to Lorca to snag his second win on the 2008 season.

One of the legends of American bike racing is planning a 6-day-style track race for this fall in Las Vegas, to coincide with the Interbike trade show there. Jack Simes III, a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1960, '64 and '68, and coach of the 1976 Olympic team, has booked the arena at Mandalay Bay resort on the Vegas strip, and plans to hold the events on a new 166-meter plywood track. The races would be held September 23-25, with events from about 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. each night. Planned events include Madison races, sprints, one-lap record attempts and motor-paced Derny races.

Some big-name riders are confirmed at the 28th Vuelta a Murcia, starting Tuesday and ending Saturday in southern Spain. The race will give them a chance to stretch their legs ahead of the season’s first major races. Some 12 teams, including the beleaguered Astana squad, will tackle a bumpy, five-day course that also includes a 23km climbing time trial that’s sure to decide the overall classification.

Juan José Haedo (CSC) is riding high into this week’s Vuelta a Murcia following an impressive victory Sunday against three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) in the Clásica de Almería. The Argentine ace edged Freire by inches in a photo finish to score only his second win on European soil at the end of what was his first day of racing on the continent this year. The newly confident Haedo looks even stronger this year as he roars into his second season with Team CSC.

March is here and your first race may be just around the corner, if you haven’t already toed the line. This is the time of year when intensity must inevitably increase as part of your preparation for the demands of racing. Hard, yet focused, training sessions characterize the build phase of training and mark the end of the base phase.

CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the 23rd Clasica de Almeria in Spain on Sunday, beating out Rabobank's Oscar Freire and Graeme Brown in a sprint to take the 187km race.

Just nine American track racers will journey to the 2008 UCI track world championships, held March 26-30 in Manchester, Great Britain. USA Cycling will send sprinters Jennie Reed, Michael Blatchford and Adam Duvendeck as well as endurance riders Sarah Hammer, Michael Friedman, Bobby Lea, Colby Pearce and Taylor Phinney. Reed races endurance and sprint events.

Another stage at the Volta a Valenciana and another breakaway by a rider from Slipstream-Chipotle. For the fourth stage in a row, the American squad put a man into the main move in the five-day Valencia tour in Spain. This time it was Lucas Euser showing off the argyle with Antonio Piedra (Contentpolis-Murcia) in more than 100km at the front.

Major changes are in store for the unofficial kick off of the classics season with Saturday’s running of the 63rd Omloop Het Volk in Belgium. Narrower roads, more cobblestones and tougher climbs are on tap for the 199km Belgian season opener in what’s always one of the most anticipated races of the year among that rare breed of racer who loves to bash the pavé.

Bettini Boonen Cancellara sprint Hincapie goes down S1 ATOC

The third stage of the Volta a Valenciana ended on a controversial note Thursday as a misdirected peloton split between a highway and a frontage road in the decisive final 5km of the 166.5km climbing course around Ibi. Ruben Plaza (Benfica) stole away the leader’s jersey from José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) in one of the most bizarre mishaps in recent cycling history.

Lopes and Ibis

Skil-Shimano, the Dutch-based continental team, seems to be one of the new darlings of ASO after receiving recent invitations to both Paris-Nice and Criterium International. The fourth-year team is a blend of aging and aspiring Europeans mixed in with Japan’s most promising talent, including Fumy Beppu, who joined in 2008 after a three-year stint with Discovery Channel. Maarten Den Bakker, one of the oldest riders in the peloton at 39, said the race invitations are welcome news.

Erik Zabel isn’t washed up yet. The 37-year-old Milram ace out-sprinted younger rivals to snag his first win of what will likely be his final season in the 178km second stage of the Volta a Valenciana in Spain. Zabel — who saw his reputation sullied last year after admitting he used the banned blood booster EPO during the 1996 season — finished off an exciting stage that saw Slipstream-Chipotle’s Timmy Duggan feature in the day’s main breakaway.

A cancer scare a year ago is fueling newfound ambitions for Belgian attacker Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) heading into this year’s classics campaign. At the beginning of the 2007 season, the 25-year-old was alarmed by the sudden appearance of any ugly black mole on his left leg and immediately went to the doctor. Before he knew it, he was hustled into surgery not knowing whether or not he’d ever race again.

The sprinters were sharpening their knives before Tuesday’s opening stage of the five-day Volta a Valenciana in Spain, but a late-race attack featuring 24 riders stayed away to foil their chances. Spanish rider José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d’Epargne) out-kicked compatriot Ruben Plaza (SL Benfica) and Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) to snag the win and take the overall leader’s jersey in the 157km stage from Sagunto to Port de Sagunto.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will look to continue venting his frustration on the bike when he saddles up for the five-day Tour of the Valencia Community on Tuesday. The Spaniard and his Astana team are still digesting the bitter pill of being left out of the Tour de France, and the Giro d'Italia due to controversial decisions by the respective race organizers.

Adding a ray of sunshine to an otherwise cloudy week of racing for Team High Road, American George Hincapie won the final stage of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, the 93.4-mile journey from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The American took the victory in downtown Pasadena ahead of breakaway companions Michael Creed, Jason McCartney, Rory Sutherland and Tom Zirbel. [nid:72801]

Levi Leipheimer has proven immune to all the pressures, dangers, fatigue and sickness of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. With one final stage left, it seems all but certain that Astana will defend Leipheimer’s overall lead into Pasadena and the record books. Only 91 of the original starting 132 riders made it to the finish line in Santa Clarita. A stomach virus has taken out more than a dozen riders, while crashes, fatigue, hypothermia and other factors have removed players from what has been the toughest-ever Tour of California.

American Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders) outsprinted Australia's Emma Rickards (Cervelo Lifeforce) to claim victory in the opening round of the UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup series Sunday in Geelong, Australia. The pace was high from the gun with 12 riders breaking away early. But Team High Road powered the chase on the front of the peloton and the break were reeled in on the fourth lap. Cervelo Lifeforce riders then launched a series of attacks with Rickards finally breaking clear followed close behind by Mattis.

Barring disaster, Astana's Levi Leipheimer appears to have a lock on the overall 2008 Amgen Tour of California's winner's jersey.

Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, the weekly summary of news from the world of professional cycling by your friends at VeloNews.com.

Gerolsteiner's Robert Förster won a mass sprint Friday in the third stage of Portugal's Volta ao Algarve, winning the stage while retaining his overall lead. Förster took the 208km stage from Vila Real S.Antontio to Loule after his team and Quick Step pulled back an early breakaway, catching its lone survivor, Belgian Gianni Meersman (Française des Jeux), in the final 600 meters. Belgian Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and the Frenchman Lilian Jegou (Française des Jeux) finished second and third in the sprint.

With a show of raw power reminiscent of Tom Boonen’s victories in the spring classics, Canadian Dominique Rollin muscled his way to a solo victory in the Amgen Tour of California’s rain-soaked fourth stage. The 25-year-old shattered a dwindling seven-man breakaway with 15 miles remaining in the brutal 135.3-mile slog from Seaside to San Luis Obispo, and then held off breakaway companions George Hincapie (High Road) and Iker Camano (Saunier Duval-Scott) by 18 seconds to take the biggest win of his young career.

Tomas Vaitkus delivered a dose of revenge for his beleaguered Astana team by taking the team’s first win of the 2008 season in the 189.5km second stage at the Volta ao Algarve, a day after his teammate Levi Leipheimer took the lead at the Tour of California. Overnight leader Robert Förster (Gerolsteiner) came through second in the mass gallop to retain his place atop the GC, with Vaitkus slotting in at second at just one second back.

As predicted, stage 3 proved itself pivotal to the overall of the Amgen Tour of California. While we don’t yet know who will take the overall title, we can probably rule out 115 of the 120 men left in the race. Those still with a realistic chance include defending champion Levi Leipheimer (Astana), world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC) and three Slipstream-Chipotle riders: Dave Zabriskie, David Millar and Christian Vande Velde.

Rabobank’s 21-year-old Robert Gesink climbed his way to the biggest win of his young career Wednesday in stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California. Levi Leipheimer, who went clear with Gesink from a select bunch of chasers over Sierra Road, finished second on the day to take the leader’s jersey. Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar started the day in the jersey — but with a stomach bug. He dropped out midway through the stage. However, it was inevitable that the American sprinter would have relinquished the lead on the race's most difficult climbing stage.

Tyler Farrar, the young Slipstream-Chipotle rider who took the yellow jersey following Tuesday’s stage, only got to show it off for about 50 miles on Wednesday, as he dropped out with stomach bug that is spreading through the peloton. “I had a bit of a rough night last night,” Farrar said before the start Wednesday. He said then that he thought he was feeling better, but he was dropped by the pack on the first hill. He caught on on the descent, only to be dropped again. He climbed into a team car before the day’s major climbs began.

Gerolsteiner sprinter Robert Förster opened his account for the 2008 season with a sprint victory in the first stage of the five-day Tour of Algarve in southern Portugal. Förster out-kicked Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) in a bunch sprint with German veteran Erik Zabel (Milram) coming through third in the 164km stage from Albufeira to Faro. Förster will wear the leader’s jersey going into Thursday’s 189.5km stage from Lagoa to Lagos.

Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) made it two in a row at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol while race leader Pablo Lastras (Caisse d’Epargne) stayed in the driver’s seat with just one stage to go. A five-man breakaway was reeled in just in time for the sprinters to take over, with Petacchi making easy work of Borut Bozihc (Cycle Collstrop) to claim the 173.5km march from La Guardia de Jaén to Ecija.

Boonen closing in the finish, with Cipo.

Tom Boonen winning the field sprint in front of the California Capitol

Tom Boonen won the second stage of the 2008 Tour of California by waiting and timing his sprint perfectly.

Tom Boonen has now won stages of major races on three continents. The big Belgian blew past High Road’s Mark Cavendish to grab the stage 2 win of the Amgen Tour of California in a drizzly downtown Sacramento. Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler came second with the recently out-of-retirement Mario Cipollini showing he still can turn the pedals with a third-place performance.

With an available seat, Health Net-Maxxis team director Mike Tamayo offered VeloNews's Neal Rogers a spot in its Tour of California caravan vehicle for Tuesday’s wet stage from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. What follows is his account of a day riding with Tamayo and team mechanic Eva Barabas.

Alessandro Petacchi used all his wile to win a three-up sprint against younger Italian compatriots to win Tuesday’s 174.5km third stage from Otura to Jaén at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol. The Milram sprinter had just enough in the tank to hold off Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval), who came through second and third, respectively.

Like most stage races, the overall at the Amgen Tour of California boils down to who can climb and time trial. With only a 2.1-mile prologue and a single Cat. 3 climb ridden thus far, the major players are already moving forward, indicating who has the suds for the 15-mile stage 5 time trial and the big climbs on stage 3.

Riders won’t have it easy in the season’s first major stage race as Paris-Nice sees the return of the towering menace of Mont Ventoux for the first time in 20 years. Race officials unveiled details Tuesday of the 66th “Race to the Sun” with a few twists to a familiar pattern. Unchanged is the general route of the eight-day race, which opens with a short prologue south of Paris on March 9 and brushes up against the northern and eastern edges of the Massif Central and plunges across Provence until its traditional conclusion along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on March 16.

Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara had both hands up in the air well before any of the sprinters crossed the stage 1 Tour of California finish line — his CSC teammate JJ Haedo had the clear win. After three laps of a crowd-packed Santa Rosa circuit, Haedo hit from his CSC leadout coming up from an underpass. “When you see that last 200 meters you just go as hard as you can, and you don’t look back, otherwise you can lose,” Haedo said. High Road’s Gerald Ciolek finished second on the stage up from Sausalito, with Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler in third.

It didn’t take long for Cadel Evans to crank up his 2008 season in winning fashion. In just his second day of competition in a year when all eyes will be on the Silence-Lotto leader, last year’s Tour runner-up uncorked a winning sprint to out-kick the remnants of a breakaway in a hard-fought second stage at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol in Spain.

Astana’s Levi Leipheimer put in the best prologue ride of the overall favorites at the Amgen Tour of California. However, Fabian Cancellara's leader’s jersey may well go to a sprinter following today’s stage. Eight fast finishers all sit within 15 seconds of the general classification lead, and there are 19 seconds up for grabs in time bonuses. Slipstream-Chipotle’s Tyler Farrar put in a great prologue to finish third. He now sits just 5 seconds outside of the jersey.

What more fitting an opening to the Tour of California than the best racers in the world flying down asphalt between rows of palm trees, and who a more fitting winner than current world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC)? The Swiss rider turned a time of 3:51.211 to handily beat second-place rider Bradley Wiggins (High Road) by four seconds over the 2.1-mile course. “With my beautiful rainbow jersey, to win here in Palo Alto, it is really good,” Cancellara said.

Jennie Reed and the Madison team of Colby Pearce and Bobby Lea turned in a pair of silver-medal performances on Sunday as the Copenhagen Track World Cup concluded in Denmark. That raised the final U.S. medal count to five.

Things were back to normal for Sunday’s finale of the Giro della Provincia di Grosseto following Saturday’s rider protest when the peloton refused to contest in what they called a dangerous finish. There was no strike Sunday as Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) grabbed his second win of the 2008 season, out-sprinting Mattia Gavazzi (Preti Mangimi-Prisma Stufe) with Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) crossing the line third. Pozzato, winner of the opening stage, claims the overall in the new three-day stage race.

Ruslan Ivanov, a man who for two years believed his career was over, has resurrected himself with overall victory at the Tour de Langkawi.

George Hincapie sprints to the finish line of the Prologue at the Tour of California

The second stage of the inaugural Tour of the Province of Grosseto on Saturday wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty. First, riders refused to contest the final sprint, calling the finishing straight too narrow and dangerous. So instead of barreling headlong down the sprint, the peloton rode at a snail’s pace across the line in protest, leaving Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) in the leader’s jersey going into Sunday’s third stage.

He’s done it two years running, but scoring a pair of stage wins will be tougher than ever this year for J.J. Haedo. CSC’s big Argentinean sprinter currently holds the record for career Amgen Tour of California stage wins at four. This year he will have no fewer than three current and former world champion sprinters to deal with in the form of Paolo Bettini (2006-07), Tom Boonen (2005) and Oscar Freire (1999, 2001 and 2004).

The final round of the 2007-08 UCI Track World Cup Classics got underway in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday as the U.S. contingent collected a pair of bronze medals on opening night of the three-day competition. Sarah Hammer placed third in the women's 3000-meter individual pursuit while countrywoman Theresa Cliff-Ryan claimed her first career World Cup medal with a third-place effort in the women's 10-kilometer scratch race.

Holding a precariously small lead in the overall standings at the Tour de Langkawi for the last six days, Matthieu Sprick finally lost his hold on the maillot jaune Friday in Kuantan. Trying his hardest without result, Drapac-Porsche's young sprinter Mitchell Docker knew time was fast running out to lead the Tour de Langkawi, however briefly that now might be, and that the seventh leg could well be his last chance before Saturday’s queen stage to Fraser Hill.

It’s been the biggest race in North America for the past two years, and the third edition of the 650-mile Amgen Tour of California, held over a north-to-south route from February 17-24, will be no exception. This year’s Tour of California field includes two-time and reigning world champion Paolo Bettini and his Quick Step teammate Tom Boonen, two-time and reigning world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC), three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and U.S. national champion and defending Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer in Astana’s U.S. racing debut.

With AEG’s announcement of the start list for this year’s Amgen Tour of California comes the revelation that Rock Racing, the revamped California-based team that hired several controversial riders in the off-season, will start the race with only five riders. All 16 other participating teams have fielded the maximum of eight riders.

Jose Perez Serpa (Serramenti-PVC) a climber by trade takes a sprint victory in Kuala Rompin

Peter McDonald (Drapac-Porsche) takes the last intermediate sprint

Alexandre Usov (AG2r - La Mondiale) edges Peter McDonald (Drapac-Porsche) in the second intermediate sprint of the day

Kurt Jambretz was in Malaysia capturing the action during the sixth stage of Le Tour de Langkawi. Not only did Matthieu Sprick hold his narrow race lead, but the fans were surprised by a sprint win by Colombian climber, Jose Serpa. See the sights and follow the action as it unfolded.

Before the race started, Jose Serpa was tipped to be a serious contender for the overall classification of the 2008 Tour de Langkawi. But with 25 teams and 150-odd riders, controlling the race is near impossible and making the right break is a bit of a lottery. So when things didn't go to plan on Day 1, he decided to tack and change course.

It’s been two weeks since Rachel Lloyd closed out her 2007-08 racing campaign at the 2007 UCI world cyclocross championships in Treviso, Italy. Lloyd, a native of Fairfax, California, was the highest-finishing American during the January 26-27 championship weekend, crossing the line in 9th place. She briefly rode as high as third, until waning fitness from a long season caught up with her.

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) has donned the first yellow jersey of the 35th Tour Méditerranéen after winning the first stage, a 120km run between La Crau and Hyères. The 30-year-old Norwegian, winner of the green jersey in the 2005 Tour de France, outsprinted Italian Liquigas teammates Francesco Chicchi and Alberto Curtolo to take the victory.

With rain clouds threatening to dampen Wednesday’s mountainous fourth stage at the Mallorca Challenge, overnight leader Filippe Gilbert (FDJeux) wasn’t sounding too optimistic about his chances of defending his jersey. “It’s going to be too wet and dangerous. It’s not worth crashing to try to stay with the lead group in this mountainous stage,” Gilbert told VeloNews before the stage. “I already won a stage. That was the main goal for this race, along with getting ready for Milan-San Remo. I will take it easy today.”

He'd won the first three bunch sprints, but each time there had been a breakaway ahead. Nonetheless, Alberto Loddo’s Tinkoff teammates continued to believe in him, so on Tuesday they sacrificed everything for him, only to see him boxed in at the finish. It was all for nothing. By this time last year he'd already won two stages and was on his way to a hat trick.

The members of Team High Road introduced themselves to their new neighbors over the weekend at Art's Cyclery in San Luis Obispo, California. High Road recently registered its headquarters in the California town, making it the sole American ProTour team this season. High Road manager Bob Stapleton introduced the athletes — some of whom were straight off a training ride as part of a team camp — to a packed crowd at Art's Cyclery. City mayor Dave Romero, also on hand, said he was thrilled to have a team of High Road's caliber based out of his town.

It is often said that races are won - and lost - in the off season. One thing is certain: The rider who steps to the top of the podium on the last day of 2008 Tour of California has surely been training with rock-solid focus over these past few months, and those who haven’t will soon pay the price. The Tour of California is back with a vengeance.

Steep climbs couldn’t slow down the peloton in Tuesday’s third stage at the Mallorca Challenge. Despite tackling some of the steepest roads in Mallorca’s dazzling Tramuntana range, the peloton came through for another mass sprint in the 168.4km stage from Pollença to Alcúdia.

A forced time-out can sometimes be a good thing. As long as you're allowed to return to what you did before, have the strength to come back and deal with the consequences, it can make you a better rider. Perhaps even a better man.

There’s a new title sponsor in domestic road racing this year, one that has already built a growing legacy in the sport. Bissell, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based floor-care products company, enters its sixth year in pro-cycling sponsorship. Bissell's support for the sport began in 2003 with the U.S. Postal Service team. From 2005 to 2007 the company co-sponsored Discovery Channel, and last year it co-sponsored the Priority Health continental team. When that company scaled back its commitment, Bissell stepped in as title sponsor.

This time the sprinters got it right. A day after Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) upset the peloton’s fastest men with a late-stage attack, the sprinters got it back on track Monday in the second stage at the Mallorca Challenge in Spain’s Balearic islands. A heavily bearded Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won easily ahead of Denis Flahaut (Saunier Duval) and Gert Steegmans (QuickStep) in an eight-up sprint that saw the bunch splinter in the late going in the 162.7km rolling stage across eastern Mallorca from Cala Millor to Son Servera.